To be fair the men's tournament is alot more harder to qualify than the girls qualification simply due to the depth in mens Asian football (I say this with great respect for the girls too) but Asian football especially at youth level is very competitive. 

Question: Which two strikers (9's) are you taking to the U23 Asian Cup??

I think it's out of 3 players - Botic, Waddingham and Mo Toure

I personally would take Botic and Toure for a few reasons. I think Botic (5 A-League goals) and Waddingham (6 A-League goals) are similar profiles in a way and similar pressing, poaching style, Waddingham better in the air but Botic better with his feet and making runs, for that reason I base it off experience and Botic has had good Olyroos performances in the past 12 months. 

Toure to me is more of an X-Factor, can play out-wide and relies heavily on his physical attributes rather than technical ability but is very different to the other two players. He's currently injured and has barely played all season so who knows if he even gets selected but he can be very disruptive in a game which is useful off of the bench. He has a short-term higher ceiling and a lower floor than the others. 

Honourable mentions to Alou Kuol, Jing Reec and Luka Jovanovic. 

Yeah 9 for the olyroos is a conundrum

Toure has put in the best performances for the olyroos imo, so he is first choice for me

Botic and kuol have been equally good flr the olyroos but botic has hit recent form cwhereas reec might have won kuols starting spot

Kuol has more goals if u count afc cup goals, more goals per minute and is also a good presser

Honestly a bit stumped. Waddingham and reec are already at the same level as those other strikers, despite being younger. But we have been using friendlies to get players forming combinations, so i would put some weight on olyroo experience unless a player is clearly better than the incumbent

Yeah I think Botic and Toure. Many good young players are available for the next cycle so Waddingham and Goodwin will build up for that. Ideally we take:

Bilokapic, Cook, Pavlesic

Talbot, Circati, Popovic, Trewin, Natta, Farrell, Bos 

Yazbek, Italiano, Nieuwenhof, Hollman, Teague, Jelacic, Peupion 

Irankunda, Tilio G. Kuol, Botic, Toure, Velupillay 

It is a great problem to have that i can argue with your selections not necessarily based on the bad form of the players you selected, but on the good form of the players you ommitted (im taking season form, not the last few weeks where segecic has been a sub for instance)
Segecic, chipperfield, brook, milanovic, j rawlins, simmons, bovalina, rodrigues and bernando have all done enough to put pressure on selectors and could get selected

Yeah I really can't split so many of the names and then making the Olympics only allows 18. 

Interesting mine would be: (and it will change again in a week)

Bilokapic, Cook, Pavlesic/Hall??

Simmons, Rawlins, Circati, Triantis, Popovic, Trewin, Bos, Farrell

Teague, Nieuwenhof, Yazbek, Hollman, Jelacic, Milanovic

Irankunda, Tilio, G.Kuol, Chipperfield, Toure, Botic

Not a bad side and pretty close to what id want. Trewin allows you to select milanovic as an extra forward

What would you change?  It's interesting, players like Toure, Irankunda and Kuol are making the team on merit alone and arguably probably shouldn't get in due to form or over players like Brook but their impact can be great and especially at U23 level we need physical X-Factors. I think Milanovic and Chipperfield really bring some strong consistent stability into the attack because everyone else are hit and miss.

Anyone?? 

One less winger for one more striker. Not sure which winger id drop tho, its been a headache of mine

Also tempted by peupion since he can play wingback and rb is a weak position. But there is a big difference between wingback and rb so not sure its justfied....

Seems like we are playing Iraq U23 for the WAFF U23 Championship on March 21st.

https://x.com/theaseanball/status/1764570263541448972?s=20

Really want to see some players get their first taste of the U23 level such as Irankunda, Chipperfield, Simmons, Milanovic and Waddingham.  
Iraq U23 is actually a very good U23 Asian team, easily a top 4 contender for the U23 Asian Cup so it'll be tough.

So minimum of 1 game and maximum of 3?

I think it's just 3 matches all up.

Looks like the first round is what separates into the losers bracket.

Subway Olyroos to participate in WAFF U23 Championship in Saudi Arabia | Socceroos

Are Robertson, Volpato and Chipperfield eligible? 

26 player squad gives scope to select some new players, hopefully some of the likes of Milanovic, Simmons, Grimaldi or even Girdwood-Riech get a chance to impress after good seasons for their clubs.

Squad depth will be very important I'd feel.

I've been impressed with him, could improve he's final shot or final ball but is excellent in tight spaces from what ive seen.

Yes, they're all eligible. Robertson had surgery & would be a long shot at being ready. There's no chance Sassuolo will release Volpato when they're in the middle of a relegation dogfight & their best player just got injured. Apparently Chipperfield just got his Citizenship, for the purpose of playing for us - so hopefully that's the case because he's in fantastic goal scoring form. 

He looks like a good player, but there's so many ahead of him in the pecking order at this stage. 

Girdwood-Riech is playing well for the high flying SFC.

26 man squad to be announced on Friday March 8th. Good news! I'm very interested to see what route they go down for this teams selection and will tell us a lot about how they're going to tackle the Asian Cup selection

I guess I'm thinking with the Olympics in mind, if we qualify. Are clubs required to release players for the Olympics? I knew Robertsons injury was bad but the Olympics are 4 months away. Serie A and League One are finished by then and don't start until August. I guess mid or end pre-season for their clubs. I'm excited by he idea of a full strength squad including those players.

Sorry mate, I thought you were talking about the Olympic qualifying tournament where Robertson & Volpato wouldn't be a chance. As you said, with the Olympics in July, they would all definitely be available depending on Robertson's recovery. I'd love to see all 3 playing for us at the Olympics. 

Full strength it's a really exciting team with few weaknesses. Right back is only position we lack something. There even seems plenty of depth. 

Robertson will probably be back by May so he'll definitely be fine by the Olympics and will be selected (assuming we qualify). 

Even rb ive been impressed by rawlins lately
Simmons and bovalina too but they both llok like they need a bit more polish

Apparently Noah Botic is out for the season, so a blow in that key No.9 position which we lack depth in.

Probably puts more responsibility in players like Alou Kuol or Jing Reec to step up now, Waddingham is raw but also young so im sure about him.

We just got hit by a triple threat of U23 injuries. Botic out for the season, Nieuwenhof has a small hamstring tear and may or may not miss the U23 Asian Cup and Marco Tilio also has a hamstring injury. 
Mo Toure  and Robertson are also obviously still injured. 

Thankfully, we have some depth but still three massive blows in one day and one day out from a team being announced. 

I looked at recovery times and Botic would make the Olympic team but definitely won't make the U23 Asian Cup. 

Is this the same knock tilio had or a new one?

Not sure! it was just on the team sheet for Melb City.